Did trial lawyers buy Clintons product liability reform veto?
Not only is trading campaign contributions for votes or other official acts an affront to our democracy and morally wrong, it’s also illegal. In those rare situations where elected officials do extort campaign contributions, the culprits should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for undermining the public’s confidence in our government. A new campaign finance scandal involving the Clinton administration reared its ugly head this month and this time it relates to the president’s opposition to product liability reform, one of AED’s top legislative priorities. According to The New York Times, the story apparently goes something like this: In 1995 Vice President Al Gore had dinner in Houston with a group of Texas trial lawyers. One of the major topics discussed at the dinner was the comprehensive tort reform bill being put together by the Republican-controlled Congress. A few days after the dinner, senior Democrats asked the vice president to call a number of the attorneys who
